Otto Ludwig Bettmann (October 15, 1903,

Leipzig, Germany Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

– May 3, 1998), known as "The Picture Man," was the founder of the

Bettmann Archive The Bettmann Archive is a collection of over 18 million photographs and images, some going back to the United States Civil War and including some of the best known U.S. historic images. The Archive also includes many images from Europe and elsew ...

. Bettmann is considered to have "virtually invented the image resource business."100 Years of Bettmann
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Biography

Bettmann was born in

to Hans Isidor, who was an

orthopedic surgeon Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics (American and British English spelling differences, alternative spelling orthopaedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgic ...

and physician, and Charlotte Bettman.Csoma, Jessica and Lana Thompson
"Otto Bettmann."
In ''Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present'', vol. 5, edited by R. Daniel Wadhwani. German Historical Institute. Last modified November 21, 2014. His parental home was across the road from the

Thomaskirche The St. Thomas Church () is a Lutheran church in Leipzig, Germany, located at the western part of the inner city ring road in Leipzig's central district. Martin Luther preached in the church in 1539. It is associated with several well-known ...

, the church where

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

worked as

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. Cantor as a profession generally refers to those leading a Jewish congregation, although it also applies to the lead singer or choir director in Christian contexts. ...

and music director from 1723 to 1750. As a child of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

parents, he was unaware that going to a

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

on Friday and singing the praises of

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

on Sunday was somewhat unusual and continued to participate until his voice changed. His musical talent not limited to voice, he studied

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

from the age of six. That discipline lasted his entire life, allowing him at age ninety-three, to still play Bach's ''

Art of Fugue ''The Art of Fugue'', or ''The Art of the Fugue'' (), BWV 1080, is an incomplete musical work of unspecified instrumentation by Johann Sebastian Bach. Written in the last decade of his life, ''The Art of Fugue'' is the culmination of Bach's ex ...

.'' He had wanted to be a doctor like his father but his brother Ernest already was being groomed for that profession. Without the support of his father, it would be impossible and his father had told him many times that one doctor in the family would be enough. In 1921, he enrolled in the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

and studied history, German literature, and philosophy. At that time a university education consisted of spending time at a number of schools. Otto went to

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

for two years then returned to Leipzig to complete his dissertation. His title, "The Emergence of Professional Ethics in the German Book Trade of the Eighteenth Century" addressed the issue of

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

legislation. In retrospect this thesis became the ''

raison d'être is a French expression commonly used in English, meaning "reason for being" or "reason to be." ''Raison d'être'' may refer to: Music * Raison d'être (band), a Swedish dark-ambient-industrial-drone music project * Raison D'être (album), ''Rai ...

'' of his life and his claim to posterity. After university, he was fortunate to work for a family friend,

Henri Hinrichsen Henri Hinrichsen (5 February 1868 – 17 September 1942) was a German music publisher and patron of music in Leipzig. He directed the music publishing house Edition Peters, C. F. Peters, succeeding his uncle. He helped found the Hochschule für Fr ...

, the owner of a music publishing company, C.F. Peters. Looking forward to expanding his business, Hinrichsen planned to open an office in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and Otto thought he would manage that branch but was told that he was not aggressive enough to handle the work. Otto quit and moved to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and, in 1929, wrote his first book, ''Staat und Menschheit'' (State and Humanity). Other than the cultural stimulation and excitement of a new independent life, he felt the need to prepare himself for a more stable life and he returned to Leipzig to matriculate in

library school A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

. One year later, he had his degree and with that security in hand, made his way back to Berlin. There he worked in the Hunst Bibliothek in charge of the Griesebach collection. Part of this collection was locked in a cabinet because it contained

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

s. As he locked and unlocked the cabinets for scholars and observed the intensity of their desire to see forbidden images, he pondered on the possibility of his own archive. Politically, the time was approaching complete

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

and

book burning Book burning is the deliberate destruction by fire of books or other written materials, usually carried out in a public context. The burning of books represents an element of censorship and usually proceeds from a cultural, religious, or politic ...

. In 1935, he immigrated to the

from

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

-controlled Germany, "arriving with a few personal effects and two steamer trunks bursting with photographs, line drawings, engravings, and art reproductions." He spent the next five decades adding to his collection of images and meeting some of the cultural icons of the times such as

Alfred Kinsey Alfred Charles Kinsey (; June 23, 1894 – August 25, 1956) was an American sexologist, biologist, and professor of entomology and zoology who, in 1947, founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University, now known as the Kinsey Insti ...

Peter Max Peter Max (born Peter Max Finkelstein, October 19, 1937) is a German-American artist known for using bright colors in his work. Works by Max are associated with the visual arts and culture of the 1960s, particularly psychedelic art and pop art. ...

, and

Stanley Marcus Harold Stanley Marcus"Personal" (column), ''The Dallas Morning News'', November 9, 1905, page 5. (April 20, 1905 – January 22, 2002) was president (1950–1972) and later chairman of the board (1972–1976) of the luxury retailer Neima ...

, a diverse collection of people. Artists, musicians, writers and people from all over the world would write to him, often sending little gifts. In 1974 he published the book ''The Good Old Days: They Were Terrible!'' debunking the wrongly nostalgic view of the

Gilded Age In History of the United States, United States history, the Gilded Age is the period from about the late 1870s to the late 1890s, which occurred between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was named by 1920s historians after Mar ...

, describing in vivid detail hazards of pollution, dangerous traffic, low-quality housing, rural hardships, serf-like labor conditions, rampant crime (police corruption endemic), unhealthy food or drink, lack of public health (helped by horrible sanitation problems), brutal education methods with grindingly difficult lessons, slow traveling and even perils in leisure activities which menaced people. He played Dr. Waxman in the 1983 movie ''Lovesick''. He married Anne Gray who already had three children: Wendel, Mel, and Beverly. Otto was accepted into their family and became the father. He had four grandchildren: Debby, Ellen, Rowie and Julia.

Notes

(Page not found 4 Feb. 2014 at https://web.archive.org/web/20120101152239/http://corporate.corbis.com/citizenship/bettmann-archive/.)

Sources

*Bettmann, Otto L. ''A Pictorial History of Medicine''. Springfield: Charles C Thomas. 1956. *Bettmann, Otto L. ''The Picture Man''. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. 1992. *''Bettmann Portable Archive''. New York: Bettmann *Thompson, Lana. ''Personal Correspondence''. 1993–1998.

External links

Otto Bettmann: Father of Retro
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bettmann, Otto 1903 births 1998 deaths American archivists American art curators German archivists German curators Leipzig University alumni